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Max Hamburgers
Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB (Max Hamburger Restaurants Incorporated) is a fast food corporation which was founded by Curt Bergfors in Gällivare, Sweden in 1968. Bergfors' oldest son Richard Bergfors is the current president since 2002. Until the 1980s, Max was the largest hamburger restaurant chain in northern Sweden, with only a single restaurant outside of Norrland (on Drottninggatan, Stockholm). This changed during the 1990s, when they expanded to become a nationwide fast-food chain. By 2011, there were around 85 restaurants in Sweden, compared to just 40 five years earlier. From 2005 to 2010, Max expanded extensively to the western parts of Sweden, and in 2010, plans were announced to expand to Riyadh, Egypt and Dubai with Kuwait following. Three years later, Landmark Group were operating three Max restaurants in Dubai, where the menu was modified to exclude bacon. The first restaurant in Norway opened on May 12, 2011. “We are part of the problem and we want to be part of the solution.” Believe it or not, that statement comes from a fast food restaurant. Swedish fast food chain Max is trying to pioneer its’ industry by labeling all meals with the amount of carbon dioxide they cause in the making.The environmental impact of each meal and product have been analyzed by the environmental organization The Natural Step, an NGO active in eleven markets that assists companies striving to actively take on more environmental responsibilities.Max is responsible for putting about 29 000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, about 70 percent of which comes from the beef. By reading the carbon labels, patrons can make informed choices about their meal and know what effect it has on the environment (hamburgers range from 0.8 to 2.9 kg CO2e). Carbon information is available for each menu item and is displayed clearly on the menu boards in all restaurants.Isn’t Max scaring customers away to other fast food joints that are still havens of ignorance? Talking to BBC’s Tom Burridge, company spokesman Par Larshans insists they are not “shooting themselves in the foot” and is quick to remind us of the “less-meat products” on the menu. “We think you need to be honest with the customer. We hope to change the whole of the fast-food industry by this,” he says. “We want people to eat less meat.” Beef burger alternatives include fish burgers (0.2 kgCO2e and made with only Marine Stewardship Council-certified fish), falafel burgers (0.2 kgCO2e), falafel boxes(0.3 kgCO2e), three kinds of chicken burgers (0.3 – 0.4 kgCO2e), chicken nuggets (0.2 kgCO2e/9 pcs), and greenburgers (0.3 kgCO2e).To minimize pollution from transportation, only Swedish beef and chicken is used in all restaurants (which in a country roughly the size of California could be considered somewhat locally sourced). Meals can be ordered with vegetable sides like salad, bean salad or carrots. During the growing season, a majority of vegetables are also sourced from within the country.Besides the carbon labeling, Max is doing a number of things to minimize its environmental footprint: All restaurants are powered by wind and lit by low-energy LEDs, only Marine Stewardship Council-certified fish is on the menu, the coffee served is organic and fair-trade, corporate cars are powered by bio fuel, and each employee is only allowed to use one cup for beverages all day. Restaurants also recycle corrugated cardboard and all electronic devices. The staff is also educated in the Max environmental school and internal corporate awards for best environmental practice are given to the branches that come up with the best green ideas.To compensate the amount of carbon dioxide the business as a whole is responsible for, Max is working with Plan Vivo on a tree planting project in Africa, an initiative battling one of the major global hazards, the devastation of forests (responsible for about 20 percent of the negative climate effects globally).Max Hamburgerrestauranger started out in 1968 as a small grill in the far north of Sweden. A family company, it is currently run by the two sons of founder Curt Bergfors. With 64 restaurants, it is the second largest hamburger chain in Sweden. Growing up, I preferred their burgers simply because they tasted better. Everything is made right when you order it, which means it does not sit under heat lamps waiting to get slapped on your tray seconds after you place the order. You have to wait a few minutes, but it is very much worth it for the fresh juicy burgers. I was excited to learn that Max is taking a lead in the industry when it comes to environmental awareness, showing others how a fast food chain can step up to and begin to take responsibility for its effects on the environment. Popularity ax was the first hamburger restaurant ever to outcompete McDonald's restaurants, which happened in 1991 in Umeå and Luleå, where McDonald's (who were later to arrive in northern Sweden than in Sweden's major cities) in fact closed their restaurants before returning a few years later. In 2007, the popularity of Max forced the McDonald's in Skellefteå, Piteå and, again, in Luleå out of business.For nine consecutive years, Max has had the most satisfied customers among the nationwide fast food chains in Sweden, beating McDonald's and Burger King by large margins (Max Hamburgers 40%, McDonald's (17%), Burger King (20%), Others (19%)), in polls conducted by commercial agency ISI Wissing AB. This may be due to the fact that Max's made-to-order hamburgers are cooked as soon as they are ordered, even if it means that an order generally takes somewhat longer to be completed than what is typical for fast food restaurants.See talk page regarding this article which refers to many unclear claims.The Burger chain Max has a nationwide ServiFlex™ agreement with Caverion for maintenance of the technical systems in their restaurants in Sweden.When I was in high school I worked at the first McDonald's ever in Stockholm. It was there that my interests for hamburgers really started. But here and now I'm going to introduce you to Max, the all-Swedish hamburger chain.Max was founded by Curt Bergfors and his girlfriend in 1968—back then it called "X grillen" in Gällivare, in the cold north. In 1971 they moved to Luleå and renamed it Max after the founder's nickname. In 1994, Max started their trip to the southern parts of Sweden. The first one in Stockholm opened right next to IKEA's new store in Barkarby. In the greater Stockholm area there are now seven restaurants, including one at Arlanda airport*. In total they have 71 restaurants all over Sweden, from Umeå in the north to Ystad in the south. What's so special about their burgers, you might ask? Well, I would say it's their selection of sauces and that they make their hamburgers to order. In their adverts they also claim to only have Swedish meat in the burgers. The Max menu contains of all the normal traditional burger chains stuff. They have one burger, named Big, that could be stolen from McDonald's. It looks just like McDonald's Big Mac, but it has no pickles. But the best one at Max is Supreme containing a 150-gram patty, two slices of cheese, tomato, lettuce, mayonnaise, and to top it all off, two big slices of hickory smoked bacon. Other items on the menu are onion rings, fries, fish burgers, chicken, salads, ice cream, and apple pie. They also have 14 kinds of dips/sauces, one of the most popular being melted hot cheddar. They offer special burgers, such as the GI (glucose index) Burger, also called the "slow burger," made with a new a new kind of bun baked with seeds and other healthy stuff in it. There's also a Delifresh burger that's low fat with no buns—just lettuce instead of buns. Their Nacho Burger is an ordinary 90-gram burger topped with taco sauce and nacho chips.Max clearly succeeds in meeting the expectations of Sweden's burger eaters, and the quality of service is excellent. In most parts of the country it's even more popular then the big American chains. In 2007 Max was voted to be the best fast food restaurant chain in all of Sweden.Can I report something bad about Max, then? Their fries are sometimes a bit undercooked and you have ask them for a new fresh bag. The interior design has a weird feel to it—it looks like a kitchen would look in the late '70s or early '80s.“The initiative lends power to Max’ guests as it gives them an opportunity to choose considering the environmental impact. For Max, compensating the business total pollution by investing part of the profit in planting trees in Africa, will constitute a constant reminder that it will pay off to step up their CSR initiatives,” says Professor Karl-Henrik Robèrt, founder of The Natural Step.Yes, it’s still fast food and that is not good. But, this long term commitment towards successive and constant improvement of environmental corporate policy is a step in the right direction for an industry in dire need of transformation, and that deserves praise. See also * List of hamburger restaurants External links Category:Fast-food hamburger restaurants Category:Fast-food franchises Category:Restaurants in Sweden Category:Restaurants established in 1968 Category:1968 establishments in Sweden